Sandy McVey of West Vault Mining Inc. presents at Metals Investor Forum in Vancouver | Sep 2026

Metals Investor Forum Sep 28, 2026 10:07

Summary

The case rests on one Nevada oxide gold project already ready to build, not one waiting on exploration success.

Oxide ore sits above the water table and heap leaches for 70%-plus recovery; a low strip ratio, waste rock per tonne of ore, simplifies mining.

The guest frames patience as the strategy, building or selling only when timing serves shareholders under a chairman who holds no shares.

A raise is planned shortly, and 72% institutional ownership should leave funding for the next few years unproblematic.

Peer value is argued using outside research that plots projects at different development levels rather than company-published figures.

The speaker helped acquire the Hasbro property in 2014 and argues the Nevada location has been vindicated, saying the region's geopolitical appeal has only become clearer in the 12 years since.
The asset is described as two hills standing above the valley, mineralized from top to bottom on the cross-section, with a very simple mine plan: take rock from the top of the hill and move it to the bottom.
The material sits above the water table and is oxide, with a very low strip ratio, reasonable grade, and about 70%-plus recovery from a heap leach operation.
The free float is very small, which the speaker presents as a mark of support for, and belief in, the company's own thesis.
He frames the project as deliberately unbuilt, with options to build it, sell it, or explore to make it bigger, and says a raise is planned shortly; as of the September 2026 presentation 72% was institutionally held and funding for a few more years was not in doubt.

Top takeaway His central argument is that gold is in a long-term secular bull market, so the right move is to hold ready-to-build, profitable, safe Nevada gold projects rather than build or sell them.
He says the company is deliberately patient and risk-averse and will only build or sell when it is most beneficial to shareholders, while describing himself as a builder by temperament rather than by strategy.
On governance he points out that the person making the decisions is not a shareholder, which he presents as natural alignment with the rest of the investor base.
He treats the upcoming raise as unproblematic given 72% institutional ownership, and expects the money needed to carry on for a few more years to be available.
On relative value he points to Joel Snyder's work plotting projects at different levels for comparison, while conceding his own presentation was deliberately high level and left complexities for follow-up discussion.